Different Components Of Executive Functions Research Articles

Executive Function: Association with Multiple Reading Skills.

Executive function (EF) is related to reading. However, there is a lack of clarity around (a) the relative contribution of different components of EF to different reading components (word reading, fluency, comprehension), and (b) how EF operates in the context of known strong language predictors (e.g., components of the Simple View of Reading or SVR), and other skills theoretically related to reading (e.g., vocabulary, processing speed) and/or to EF (e.g., short-term memory, motor function). In a large sample of 3rd to 5th graders oversampled for struggling readers, this paper evaluates the impact of EF derived from a bifactor model (Cirino, Ahmed, Miciak, Taylor, Gerst, & Barnes, 2018) in the context of well-known covariates and demographics. Beyond common EF, five specific factors (two related to working memory, and factors of fluency, self-regulated learning, and behavioral inattention/metacognition) were addressed. EF consistently showed a unique contribution to already-strong predictive models for all reading outcomes; for reading comprehension, EF interacted with SVR indices (word reading and listening comprehension). The findings extend and refine our understanding of the contribution of EF to reading skill.

Aging with elevated autistic traits: Cognitive functioning among older adults with the broad autism phenotype

BackgroundLittle is known about the impact of aging with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on cognition. As a first step in addressing this gap in our knowledge, the current study examined cognitive functioning among older adults with elevated, but subclinical levels of autistic traits (i.e., the Broad Autism Phenotype; BAP) compared to older adults without the BAP. MethodForty older adults (aged 60–91, M = 73 years) were recruited and classified as meeting criteria for the BAP (n = 20) or not (control older adults, COA; n = 20). Different components of executive function as well as episodic memory were measured using standardized performance-based neuropsychological assessments in addition to a self-report questionnaire of executive function difficulties. ResultsDespite no differences in age, sex ratio, educational history or IQ, the BAP group demonstrated poorer performance on measures of executive function and episodic memory compared to the COA group. The BAP group also self-reported more executive function difficulties in everyday settings. Moreover, differences in working memory and attentional shifting were maintained after accounting for the influences of IQ and both depression and anxiety symptoms. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that aging with the BAP confers additional risk to cognitive function for older adults. As the BAP forms a bridge in the continuum from typical to atypical levels of autistic traits, these findings suggest that individuals with ASD might also incur cognitive costs as they age into older adulthood.

Executive Function and Emotional, Behavioral, and Social Competence Problems in Children with Epilepsy

Many researchers have reported elevated rates of emotional, behavioral, and social competence problems (EBSP) in children with epilepsy. Although executive function has been found to be associated with EBSP in children with typical development, almost no research has looked at the individual components of executive function as potential predictors of EBSP in children with epilepsy. This is surprising given the deficits in executive function in children with epilepsy. We investigated EBSP and executive function in 42 children with epilepsy, aged 6.0 to 18.1 years and found, as expected, that EBSP were associated with executive function in these children even after epilepsy-related variables, such as seizure type, were accounted for. However, different components of executive function were related to different emotional, behavioral, and social competence problems in these children. Shifting of mental sets was a significant predictor of emotional, behavioral, and social competence problems whereas inhibition was a significant predictor of behavioral problems. This suggests that different executive function profiles in children with epilepsy may place them at-risk for developing different types of emotional, behavioral, and social competence problems. These results may help researchers and clinicians develop new techniques to identify and treat emotional, behavioral, and social competence problems in children with epilepsy.

Executive functioning in obese individuals waiting for clinical treatment.

Executive functions have an important role in human behavioural regulation and can be a determinant of eating behaviour. Our aim was to study the different components of executive functions in obese individuals waiting for clinical treatment, comparing them with normoweight subjects with similar socio-demographic characteristics. A total of 114 adults (76 obese and 38 normoweight) completed a neuropsychological battery that included tasks of conceptualization and abstraction, motor programming, response maintenance, inhibition and resistance, problem solving, cognitive flexibility, and verbal fluency. There was a statistically significant difference between groups for all the dimensions of the executive functions evaluated, with the obese group showing poorer performance compared to normoweight. Obese individuals demonstrated poorer executive functions than normoweight individuals.

Assessment of different components of executive function in grief.

Intense and complex symptoms of grief seem to be related to a series of biases and difficulties in areas such as attention, autobiographical memory and problem solving. However, studies of neuropsychological performance have reported contradictory evidence. The role of executive function (EF) in bereaved individuals has not been systematically studied by differentiating between its components. A total of 38 participants who had experienced the death of a loved one participated in this study. They were divided into two groups based on the intensity of their symptoms. They underwent neuropsychological assessments that included measures of flexibility, inhibition, working memory and emotional decision-making. Group differences were found in the parts of the emotional decision-making task that assessed decisions made under risk. Considering each participant’s level of education and emotional variables, the symptoms of grief predicted a substantial variance in their performance in the decision-making task. Intense symptoms of grief seem to be related to poorer emotional decision-making performance but not to flexibility, inhibition or working memory.

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

A growing body of research suggests that musical experience and ability are related to a variety of cognitive abilities, including executive functioning (EF). However, it is not yet clear if these relationships are limited to specific components of EF, limited to auditory tasks, or reflect very general cognitive advantages. This study investigated the existence and generality of the relationship between musical ability and EFs by evaluating the musical experience and ability of a large group of participants and investigating whether this predicts individual differences on three different components of EF – inhibition, updating, and switching – in both auditory and visual modalities. Musical ability predicted better performance on both auditory and visual updating tasks, even when controlling for a variety of potential confounds (age, handedness, bilingualism, and socio-economic status). However, musical ability was not clearly related to inhibitory control and was unrelated to switching performance. These data thus show that cognitive advantages associated with musical ability are not limited to auditory processes, but are limited to specific aspects of EF. This supports a process-specific (but modality-general) relationship between musical ability and non-musical aspects of cognition.

Cortical thickness in frontoparietal and cingulo-opercular networks predicts executive function performance in older adults.

This study examined the relationship between cortical thickness in executive control networks and neuropsychological measures of executive function. Forty-one community-dwelling older adults completed an MRI scan and a neuropsychological battery including 5 measures of executive function. Factor analysis of executive function measures revealed 2 distinct factors: (a) Complex Attention Control (CAC), comprised of tasks that required immediate response to stimuli and involved subtle performance feedback; and (b) Sustained Executive Control (SEC), comprised of tasks that involved maintenance and manipulation of information over time. Neural networks of interest were the frontoparietal network (F-P) and cingulo-opercular network (C-O), which have previously been hypothesized to relate to different components of executive function, based on functional MRI studies, but not neuropsychological factors. Linear regression models revealed that greater cortical thickness in the F-P network, but not the C-O network, predicted better performance on the CAC factor, whereas greater cortical thickness in the C-O network, but not the F-P network, predicted better performance on the SEC factor. The relationship between cortical thickness and performance on executive function measures was characterized by a double dissociation between the thickness of cortical regions hypothesized to be involved in executive control and distinct executive processes. Results indicate that fundamentally different executive processes may be predicted by cortical thickness in distinct brain networks.

Maternal perinatal mental health and offspring academic achievement at age 16: the mediating role of childhood executive function.

BackgroundElucidating risk pathways for under‐achieving at school can inform strategies to reduce the number of adolescents leaving school without passing grades in core subjects. Maternal depression can compromise the quality of parental care and is associated with multiple negative child outcomes. However, only a few small studies have investigated the association between perinatal maternal depression and poor academic achievement in adolescence. The pathways to explain the risks are also unclear.MethodProspective observational data from 5,801 parents and adolescents taking part in a large UK population cohort (Avon‐Longitudinal‐Study‐of‐Parents‐and‐Children) were used to test associations between maternal and paternal depression and anxiety in the perinatal period, executive function (EF) at age 8, and academic achievement at the end of compulsory school at age 16.ResultsAdolescents of postnatally depressed mothers were 1.5 times (1.19, 1.94, p = .001) as likely as adolescents of nondepressed mothers to fail to achieve a ‘pass’ grade in math; antenatal anxiety was also an independent predictor of poor math. Disruption in different components of EF explained small but significant proportions of these associations: attentional control explained 16% (4%, 27%, p < .001) of the association with postnatal depression, and working memory explained 17% (13%, 30%, p = .003) of the association with antenatal anxiety. A similar pattern was seen for language grades, but associations were confounded by maternal education. There was no evidence that paternal factors were independently associated with impaired child EF or adolescent exams.ConclusionMaternal postnatal depression and antenatal anxiety are risk factors for adolescents underachieving in math. Preventing, identifying, and treating maternal mental health in the perinatal period could, therefore, potentially increase adolescents’ academic achievement. Different aspects of EF partially mediated these associations. Further work is needed, but if these pathways are causal, improving EF could reduce underachievement in math.

Executive functions and social information processing in adolescents with severe behavior problems

ABSTRACTOne tradition in research for explaining aggression and antisocial behavior has focused on social information processing (SIP). Aggression and antisocial behavior have also been studied from the perspective of executive functions (EFs), the higher-order cognitive abilities that affect other cognitive processes, such as social cognitive processes. The main goal of the present study is to provide insight into the relation between EFs and SIP in adolescents with severe behavior problems. Because of the hierarchical relation between EFs and SIP, we examined EFs as predictors of SIP. We hypothesized that, first, focused attention predicts encoding and interpretation, second, inhibition predicts interpretation, response generation, evaluation, and selection, and third, working memory predicts response generation and selection. The participants consisted of 94 respondents living in residential facilities aged 12–20 years, all showing behavior problems in the clinical range according to care staff. EFs were assessed using subtests from the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Test battery. Focused attention was measured by the Flanker task, inhibition by the GoNoGo task, and working memory by the Visual Spatial Sequencing task. SIP was measured by video vignettes and a structured interview. The results indicate that positive evaluation of aggressive responses is predicted by impaired inhibition and selection of aggressive responses by a combination of impaired focused attention and inhibition. It is concluded that different components of EFs as higher-order cognitive abilities affect SIP.

Emotional Burden Effects on Attention and Executive Function in Family Caregivers of Alzheimer Patients.

Event Abstract Back to Event Emotional Burden Effects on Attention and Executive Function in Family Caregivers of Alzheimer Patients. Elke Bromberg1*, Mácio Corrêa2, Kelem Vedovelli3, Bruno Giacobbo2, Carlos Souza4, Daiane Lima2, Leticia Beras3 and Irani Argimon5 1 Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Morphological and Physiological Sciences, Brazil 2 Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Brazil 3 Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Brazil 4 Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Nervous System Developmental Biology Laboratory , Brazil 5 Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Psychology Faculty, Brazil INTRODUCTION: Family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease have a significant emotional burden. Chronic stress affects cognitive functions such as attention and executive function. OBJECTIVE: Assess the chronic stress effects on attention and executive function in family caregivers of Alzheimer patients. METHODS: Participants were caregivers (n=18, age 64.83 ± 3.64 years old, 13 women) and controls (n=17, age 58.29 ± 3.16 years old, 14 women). Participants performed Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Lipp’s Stress Symptoms Inventory (ISSL). All volunteers were subjected to Digit Span (forward and backward), Trail Making (A and B) and Stroop (words, colors and colors/words) tests to measure attention and different components of executive function. T-test and linear regression were used for statistics analysis and P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The caregivers presented higher scores of depressive (p=0.001) and anxiety symptoms (p<0.001) than controls. In the ISSL, only caregivers presented stress (33% resistance, 27% near exhaustion, 39% exhaustion). In all cognitive tests, the caregivers had poorer performance than the controls. There was significant difference between groups in Digit Span (forward and backward) p<0.001, Trail Making A (p=0.004) and B (p<0.001) and Stroop to words (p=0.004), colors (p=0.003) and colors/words (p=0.038) tests. We found a positive relation between the cognitive task performance and the results of BAI (p=0.008 – R2=0.477), BDI (p=0.001 – R2=0.561) and ISSL (p<0.001 – R2=0.693). CONCLUSION: Caregivers had impaired performance in attention and executive tasks. Chronic stress, as well as anxiety and depression symptoms, seem to have an important role on these cognitive impairments. Thus, measures aimed for emotional burden reduction may be important to remediate attention and executive function of caregivers. Keywords: Anxiety, Attention, Depression, Executive Function, stress Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Attention Citation: Bromberg E, Corrêa M, Vedovelli K, Giacobbo B, Souza C, Lima D, Beras L and Argimon I (2015). Emotional Burden Effects on Attention and Executive Function in Family Caregivers of Alzheimer Patients.. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00054 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Dr. Elke Bromberg, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Morphological and Physiological Sciences, Porto Alegre, Brazil, bromberg@pucrs.br Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Elke Bromberg Mácio Corrêa Kelem Vedovelli Bruno Giacobbo Carlos Souza Daiane Lima Leticia Beras Irani Argimon Google Elke Bromberg Mácio Corrêa Kelem Vedovelli Bruno Giacobbo Carlos Souza Daiane Lima Leticia Beras Irani Argimon Google Scholar Elke Bromberg Mácio Corrêa Kelem Vedovelli Bruno Giacobbo Carlos Souza Daiane Lima Leticia Beras Irani Argimon PubMed Elke Bromberg Mácio Corrêa Kelem Vedovelli Bruno Giacobbo Carlos Souza Daiane Lima Leticia Beras Irani Argimon Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Among three different executive functions, general executive control ability is a key predictor of decision making under objective risk.

Executive functioning is supposed to have an important role in decision making under risk. Several studies reported that more advantageous decision-making behavior was accompanied by better performance in tests of executive functioning and that the decision-making process was accompanied by activations in prefrontal and subcortical brain regions associated with executive functioning. However, to what extent different components of executive functions contribute to decision making is still unclear. We tested direct and indirect effects of three executive functions on decision-making performance in a laboratory gambling task, the Game of Dice Task (GDT). Using Brand's model of decisions under risk (2006) we tested seven structural equation models with three latent variables that represent executive functions supposed to be involved in decision making. The latent variables were general control (represented by the general ability to exert attentional and behavioral self-control that is in accordance with task goals despite interfering information), concept formation (represented by categorization, rule detection, and set maintenance), and monitoring (represented by supervision of cognition and behavior). The seven models indicated that only the latent dimension general control had a direct effect on decision making under risk. Concept formation and monitoring only contributed in terms of indirect effects, when mediated by general control. Thus, several components of executive functioning seem to be involved in decision making under risk. However, general control functions seem to have a key role. They may be important for implementing the calculative and cognitively controlled processes involved in advantageous decision making under risk.

A specific pattern of executive dysfunctions in transcortical motor aphasia

Background: Recent studies imply that executive functions (EF) are closely related to our ability to comprehend and produce language. A number of findings suggest that functional communication and language recovery in aphasia depend not only on intact language abilities but on EF as well. Some patients with transcortical motor aphasia (TMA) show language deficits only in tasks in which conflicting representations must be resolved by executive processes. In line with these results, others have proposed that TMA should be referred to as “dysexecutive aphasia”. EF in aphasia have mostly been studied using neuropsychological tests, therefore there is a need for systematic experimental investigations of these skills.Aims: 1. To investigate EF in TMA, and to test whether executive dysfunctions are specific to TMA. 2. To experimentally measure different components of EF: updating working memory representations and inhibition of prepotent responses.Methods & Procedures: Five individuals with TMA, five patients with conduction aphasia and ten healthy controls participated. We designed four nonverbal tasks: to measure updating of working memory representations, we used a visual and an auditory n-back task. To assess inhibition of prepotent responses, we designed a Stop-signal and a nonverbal Stroop task. All tasks involved within-subject baseline conditions.Outcomes & Results: We found certain EF deficits in both groups of individuals with aphasia as compared to healthy controls. Individuals with TMA showed impaired inhibition as indexed by the Stop-signal and the nonverbal Stroop tasks, as well as a deficit of updating of working memory representations as indexed by the auditory n-back task. Participants with conduction aphasia had difficulties in only one of the tasks measuring inhibition, but no clear evidence for impairment of updating of working memory representations was found.Conclusions: Although the results show different patterns of EF deficits in the groups with aphasia, the findings clearly demonstrate that EF deficits are not specific to participants with TMA. Based on these results, and on earlier data highlighting the role of executive processes in functional communication and language recovery, we suggest that tests of EF should be an inherent part of clinical aphasia assessment.

Ecological validity of the Multiple Errands Test using predictive models of dysexecutive problems in everyday life

The“dysexecutive syndrome” is composed of a range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral deficits that are difficult to evaluate using traditional neuropsychological tests. The Multiple Errands Test (MET) was originally developed to systematize the assessment of the more elusive manifestations of the dysexecutive syndrome. The aims of this study were to examining the reliability of the MET and to investigate the predictive ability of its indices to explain a range of “dysexecutive”-related symptoms in everyday life. Thirty patients with acquired brain injury participated in this study. The MET showed an adequate inter-rater reliability and ecological validity. The main performance indices from the MET were able to significantly predict severity of everyday life executive problems, with different indices predicting particular manifestations of different components of executive functions.

Attentional and Executive Deficits in Brazilian Children with Developmental Dyslexia

The present study aims to compare the performance between Brazilian children with Developmental Dyslexia (DD) and children without learning difficulties on tests of attention and Executive Functions. The study sample consists of study group (20 subjects) attending the Learning Disability clinic of Univesity Hospital and control group (20 subjects) from public school in Campinas-SP. The instruments utilized were: WISC-III factor indexes and subtests, cancellation test, Trail Making Test, Stroop Color Word Test, Tower of London, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and verbal fluency test. The results revealed differences between groups in scores of different instruments. The findings suggest that children with dyslexia have difficulties in performing visuospatial and auditive attention tasks, as well as tasks involving different components of executive functions, such as flexibility, inhibitory control, strategy use, working memory and verbal fluency. Such changes may be part of dyslexia and accompany the core deficit in the phonological component of language.

Components of Executive Functioning in Metamemory

This study examined metamemory in relation to three basic executive functions (set shifting, working memory updating, and response inhibition) measured as latent variables. Young adults (Experiment 1) and middle-aged adults (Experiment 2) completed a set of executive functioning tasks and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). In Experiment 1, source recall and face recognition tasks were included as indicators of objective memory performance. In both experiments, analyses of the executive functioning data yielded a two-factor solution, with the updating and inhibition tasks constituting a common factor and the shifting tasks a separate factor. Self-reported memory problems showed low predictive validity, but subjective and objective memory performance were related to different components of executive functioning. In both experiments, set shifting, but not updating and inhibition, was related to PRMQ, whereas source recall showed the opposite pattern of correlations in Experiment 1. These findings suggest that metamemorial judgments reflect selective effects of executive functioning and that individual differences in mental flexibility contribute to self-beliefs of efficacy.

Executive functions and the early acquisition of mathematical skills

Event Abstract Back to Event Executive functions and the early acquisition of mathematical skills Patrizia Cimeli1*, Regula Neuenschwander1, Marianne Röthlisberger1 and Claudia M. Roebers1 1 University of Bern, Institute of Psychology, Switzerland In recent years, there has been growing interest in the development of cognitive abilities such as updating, inhibition and attentional control, also known as executive functions. Executive functions appear to be associated with activity in the prefrontal regions of the cortex, the typical “human” area which undergoes pronounced changes and differentiations during infancy, childhood and adolescence. Within a large body of evidence that emphasize the relationship between executive functioning and reasoning abilities, recent studies increasingly explore the relationship between executive functions and scholastic abilities such as mathematical skills, reading and writing found in normal children as well as in children with dyslexia or dyscalculia. Findings of reliable relations between executive functions and mathematical skills fit well with neuroscientific evidence suggesting an overlap in the neural substrates supporting executive functions as well as numerical ability and quantitative reasoning. To date, there are only few studies including math abilities and different aspects of executive functions. Thus, it is still unclear how the different components of executive functions are related to specific mathematical abilities in school-age children. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the extent to which distinct aspects of executive functions are associated with different mathematical skills including simple problems of numerosity and complex math problems - most of them extracted from standardized tests for mathematics. Updating, inhibition and attentional control were measured using backwards colour span, fruit-stroop and cognitive flexibility task by a total of N = 49 8-year-old normally developing children, enrolled in second class of primary school. Results reveal that all executive functions except inhibition were moderately related to an overall mathematical ability score, even when controlling for child`s age and speed of processing. Results are discussed in comparison with other results obtained with school-age children and regarding their practical and theoretical implications. Conference: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education, Zurich, Switzerland, 3 Jun - 5 Jun, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Arithmetic and higher-order mathematics Citation: Cimeli P, Neuenschwander R, Röthlisberger M and Roebers CM (2010). Executive functions and the early acquisition of mathematical skills. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.11.00008 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 May 2010; Published Online: 26 May 2010. * Correspondence: Patrizia Cimeli, University of Bern, Institute of Psychology, Bern, Switzerland, patrizia.cimeli@psy.unibe.ch Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers Google Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers Google Scholar Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers PubMed Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Neuropsychological consequences of alcohol and drug abuse on different components of executive functions

Several studies have shown alterations in different components of executive functioning in users of different drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and heroin. However, it is difficult to establish a specific association between the use of each of these drugs and executive alterations, since most drug abusers are polysubstance abusers, and alcohol is a ubiquitous confounding factor. Moreover, in order to study the association between consumption of different drugs and executive functioning, the patterns of quantity and duration of drugs used must be considered, given the association between these parameters and the executive functioning alteration degree. Based on the multicomponent approach to executive functions, the aims of the present study were: (i) to analyse the differential contribution of alcohol versus cocaine, heroin and cannabis use on executive functions performance; and (ii) to analyse the contribution made by the severity of the different drugs used (quantity and duration patterns) on these functions in a sample of polysubstance abusers that requested treatment for cannabis-, cocaine- or heroin-related problems. We administered measures of fluency, working memory, analogical reasoning, interference, cognitive flexibility, decision-making and self-regulation to two groups: 60 substance-dependent individuals (SDIs) and 30 healthy control individuals (HCIs). SDIs had significantly poorer performance than HCIs across all of the executive domains assessed. Results from hierarchical regression models showed the existence of common correlates of the use of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine on verbal fluency and decision-making; common correlates of quantity of cannabis and cocaine use on verbal working memory and analogical reasoning; common correlates of duration of cocaine and heroin use on shifting; and specific effects of duration of cocaine use on inhibition measures. These findings indicate that alcohol abuse is negatively associated with fluency and decision-making deficits, whereas the different drugs motivating treatment have both generalized and specific deleterious effects on different executive components.

Prevalence of executive dysfunction in cocaine, heroin and alcohol users enrolled in therapeutic communities

Many studies have observed relevant executive alterations in polysubstance users but no data have been generated in terms of prevalence of these alterations. Studies of the prevalence of neuropsychological impairment can be useful in the design and implementations of interventional programs for substance abusers. The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of neuropsychological impairment in different components of executive functions in polysubstance users enrolled in therapeutic communities. Moreover, we estimated the effect size of the differences in the executive performance between polysubstance users and non substance users in order to know which neuropsychological tasks can be useful to detect alterations in the executive functions. Study results showed a high prevalence of executive function impairment in polysubstance users. Working memory was the component with the highest impairment proportion, followed by fluency, shifting, planning, multi-tasking and interference. Comparisons between user groups showed very similar executive impairment prevalence for all the analyzed executive components. The best discriminating task between users and controls was Arithmetic (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS-III). Moreover FAS and Ruff Figural Fluency Test was discriminating for fluency, Category Test for shifting, Stroop Colour–Word Interference Test for interference, Zoo Map (Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome, BADS) for planning and Six Elements (BADS) for multi-tasking. The existence of significant prevalence of executive impairment in polysubstance users reveals the need to redirect the actuation policies in the field of drug-dependency towards the creation of treatments addressed at the executive deficits of the participants, which in turn would facilitate the individuals' compliance and final rehabilitation.

Executive dysfunctions as potential markers of familial vulnerability to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Attentional and executive impairments have been found both in patients with schizophrenia and in their unaffected first-degree relatives, suggesting that they might be considered as familial vulnerability markers. Several studies have shown that the performance of bipolar patients does not significantly differ from that of schizophrenic patients, so that executive and attentional deficits might not be specific to schizophrenia. In the present study, we aimed to identify executive dysfunctions in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that might be vulnerability trait markers specific to one or common to both of these diseases. We assessed cognitive performance of euthymic bipolar and schizophrenic patients, their unaffected first-degree relatives and a healthy control group, using neuropsychological tasks to test different components of executive function: the Verbal Fluency Test, the Stroop Word Colour Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Trail Making Test. The two groups of patients and their unaffected relatives demonstrated disproportionately increased slowness on the Stroop test in comparison to the normal healthy group. Patients with schizophrenia performed poorly on all the tests in comparison to the normal healthy subjects, while no other impairment was observed in the bipolar patients and in the relatives of schizophrenic and bipolar patients. Enhanced susceptibility to interference and reduced inhibition could be transnosographical markers for a shared familial vulnerability common to schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.